The Hong Kong government has provided newly established ethnic minority care teams HK$1.45 million per year, more than has been allocated to care teams in the city’s 18 districts.
The Home Affairs Department announced on Sunday that eight ethnic minority care teams had already been set up, with another two teams coming by the end of the year. Eric Chan, the city’s chief secretary, said during a launch ceremony that the new care teams would reach out to and work with the city’s ethnic minority communities.
The care teams currently operate out of eight Support Service Centres for Ethnic Minorities already established across the city, with two more set to open this year.
In response to enquiries from HKFP, the Home Affairs Department said by email on Friday that each centre received HK$10 million funding in the 2023-24 financial year. Starting from 2024-25, an additional HK$1.45 million will be allocated to each centre to support the running of each ethnic minority care teams.
The centres are currently managed by NGOs including New Home Association, International Social Services, and Hong Kong Christian Service.
“Each EM Care Team will have full time staff, to be supplemented by ethnic minority volunteers,” the department said.
It added that each care team was expected to serve 5,000 ethnic minority households each year.
‘Grossly unfair and misleading’
After the launch ceremony for the ethnic minorities care teams on Sunday, the government posted a photograph in which officials and representatives of NGOs and care teams stood in the front row, largely obscuring people from ethnic minorities behind them.
HKFP asked the government why there had been such an arrangement. In response, the Home Affairs Department said the event showcased multiple performances by different ethnic groups, as well as booths that showcased ethnic minority cultures.
“It would be grossly unfair and misleading to judge or comment on such a meaningful event in the way expressed in the question,” the department added.
HK$400k to HK$600k for each district care team
Hong Kong lawmakers and district councillors have in the past raised concerns that the government did not provide enough resources for district care teams, introduced by the city’s leader John Lee in 2022, to operate.
When the government announced the launch of the care teams in December 2022, it said each team would be allocated HK$400,000 to 600,000 per year. There are around 450 care teams, each with eight to 12 members appointed by pro-establishment groups selected by the government to run the teams.
“In terms of resources, the government will partly support care teams, and these groups [running the care teams] are also welcome to provide services via sponsorship, donation, and resources from within the groups,” the government said in a Chinese statement.
Local media reported in early 2023 that Frankie Ngan, a district councillor and a pro-establishment lawmaker, had said the funding was limited and not enough to hire full-time staff.
In order to get more funding, some district care teams have set up foundations for care team development, local media outlets reported last September. Kitson Yeung, a pro-establishment lawmaker and a district councillor, said the foundation set up by Kowloon City care team had raised more than HK$11 million.
Care teams were part of Lee’s scheme “to improve district governance” and to support authorities’ district work. All care teams are overseen by district officers.
